Twilight Technical Specification

Completed September 1889; Official No. 97368: Code Letters LHKN.

Owners: 1889 John Wood & Co. West Hartlepool.

Masters: 1890-91 F Muller; 1891-93 WJ Edwards.

Voyages: April 1891 she was moored at Barry Dock, Wales.

The following information has kindly been provided by April Wallis:
"On the 1891 Census my relative Charles Digby Fowle was 1st Mate. He is later Mate on the SS Skipjack (Off. No.129746), on the 1911 Census.
The 1891 Census details, for the SS Twilight at Barry Dock, Cardiff, 4/4/1891:

Master, Wm. Jn. Edwards, married 31yrs, b. Glamorgan
1st Mate, C.D. Fowle, married 29yrs, b. Kent, Whitstable
2nd Mate, A Beckmann, married 45yrs
1st engineer, Wm. Briggs, married 33yrs b. Durham, West Hartlepool
2nd engineer Wm. Mackevick, married, 29yrs, b. Oldbury, Worcestershire
3rd engineer, John Smith (I think), single,  24yrs, b. Elie, Fifeshire
Steward, G. Gray, single, 21yrs, b. Sussex,
Cook, F. Garrard, married, 56yrs, Essex, Colchester
Messroom or Engineer’s Steward, A. Beyant, b. Middlesex, London
M A Fowle visitor married 25 b. Durham, Sunderland.
This last person is Charles Digby Fowle’s wife Mary Anne Fowle nee Digby. The census is completed by and signed by Wm Edwards.”

Bound from Blyth for Genoa with a cargo of coal & a crew of 20 Twilight sank after a collision with the London steamship Ada, near Corton Lighthouse, Norfolk on 1 February 1893 during heavy fog. No lives lost.

Northern Guardian 2 February 1893:
‘At about 12.30 am on Tuesday fog rolled in rendering difficult to discern any objects in the distance. At 2.20am the Twilight, going at half-speed, had reached a point about 17 miles from Lowestoft when they heard the fog whistle of a steamer. They could see no lights & just felt a great mass bear down on them. The Ada struck the Twilight on the starboard side just forward of the engine-room bulkhead. The Twilight at once began to make water through the large breach in her side. The crew hurriedly went on deck, some dressed only in their night attire having been in their bunks. The master ordered his crew to don lifebelts & the lifeboat was brought out & some of the crew got in. 

Meanwhile the Ada got their lifeboat out & James Scallan, William Scott, George Kinsley, James Shaw & one other of the Twilightcrew climbed in. The Ada then went to the rapidly sinking Twilight where Captain Edwards had intimated his intention to stay with the vessel until she took the final plunge so as to warn any other ship which may approach the wreck. The Captain of the Ada said he would continue to blow his foghorn as a warning after the Twilight had gone down.
The smack Young Arthur of Lowestoft arrived near the scene & was informed of what had taken place. The smack, due to her speed, was carried two or three miles from the vessels but she then returned. The sailors in the Twilight lifeboat could not find the Ada because of the fog so hailed the Young Arthur. They were taken aboard, given food & clothing & treated with great kindness & then landed at Lowestoft where they were taken to the Fishermen’s Home where they were looked after in a first rate style. The other five men were taken aboard the Ada & would have been landed at Gravesend.
The Ada’s stern was badly twisted in the collision. The Twilight crew gave praise to the master saying they owed their lives to the cool & resourceful way he handled the situation.’

The company of J. Wood & Co. began with the purchase of the steamship Dewdrop in 1882. In 1904 the company relocated their offices from West Hartlepool to London. Their last two ships were sold in 1909.

At different periods the company owned three ships one named Twilight and two named Sunshine.

Family History:

John Wood was born in July 1849 at Swansea to John (a dealer in marine stores and then became a licensed victualler) and Harriet Wood. He married Jane Parcell at Swansea on 10th March 1873.  The couple had one daughter in 1885 and the family had moved to Sutton, Surrey by 1901.

John was an apprentice able seaman then a junior officer before obtaining his master's certificate no. 15518 in 1874. He moved to West Hartlepool in 1877 and became marine superintendent for Cory, Lohden & Co., before becoming a shipowner himself.

John died aged 72 at Monksdene, Benhilton on 27th July 1921 leaving an estate of £101,477.

Obituary in the Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail – Friday 29 July 1909.

The funeral took place to-day at All Saints, Benhilton of Mr. John Wood of Monksdene, Benhilton. Deceased, who formerly carried on business in West Hartlepool and resided here for many years, was well known and esteemed in both boroughs. Whilst a resident at Sutton he had interested himself in the affairs of the place and became very popular. About four years ago Mr. Wood slipped and fell whilst in his billiard room, breaking his thigh. Since then had been confined to the house, and on Wednesday, after an illness of about three weeks, he passed peacefully away at the age of 72, death being attributed to syncope. In his early days the late Mr. Wood commanded many steamers, and settled in West Hartlepool in 1877, where he remained until went to Sutton. His first duties onshore were those of superintendent for several large shipbuilding firms. He was, at one time, Chairman of the Deptford Dry Dock, Chairman of the Tyne Dock Engineering Co., Ltd., South Shields, Chairman of the Ocean Dry Dock Co., Ltd., Swansea, and director of sundry insurance companies. As a Freemason, he was a Master of the Clarence Lodge, West Hartlepool,

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John’s brother James Ambrose Wood was born in 1860 at Swansea. He married Edith Mary Cook at Swansea in 1880 and the couple had three children. James worked as a clerk in the office of a shipowner at Swansea. Between 1891 and 1896 he moved to Hartlepool and by 1911 the family were living at  15 Hutton Ave Hartlepool.

James set up the company of J.A. Wood & Co., owning two ships between 1896 and 1908. One was the steamer Teesdale built in 1904 by Ropner, Stockton-on-Tees. She was sold to Ropner & Co., in 1908 and sank in August 1917.

James died aged 75 on 25 September 1935 at 50 Belmont Gardens Hartlepool leaving effects of £1,382.